At the ceremony to anoint him guru, Hargobind declined to wear the seli, a woollen cord worn on the head by each guru since Nanak Dev.

Instead he asked for a sword. Baba Buddha, having never handled a sword, placed the weapon on the wrong side of the guru. Guru Hargobind, noticing this, asked for another sword, saying, "I'll wear two swords: a sword of shakti and a sword of bhakti."

The swords symbolised his dual role of holding secular power (miri) and spiritual authority (piri).

Soon after his ascension, Guru Hargobind laid the foundation of a new temple at Amritsar, the Akal Takht or the Eternal Throne. The Akal Takht was built facing the Harmandir Sahib.

Guru Hargobind had a throne built, and administered Sikh affairs from there. The temporal nature of the Akal Takht balanced the spiritual nature of the Golden Temple, emphasising the concepts of miri and piri.